"Wonderful thing, death. So uncontroversial," said Jim Hacker, the hero of BBC TV's highly successful 1980s political sitcom "Yes Prime Minister."

The irreverently honest remark was made on the eve of the state funeral of Hacker's predecessor as U.K. prime minister. Had he been here today, Mr. Hacker might with equal irreverence and honesty have paraphrased himself to say: "Wonderful thing, war. So uncontrollable."

There was and continues to be controversy regarding the legitimacy of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Yet while the war was actually being fought, it became an uncontrollable fact of global life to which currencies, interest rates and not least, stock markets, had no alternative but to react.